THE STATUS OF LGBTQ+ RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

INTRODUCTION

The president of the United States in the U.S government’s implementation of the February 4, 2021 Presidential memorandum on advancing the Human Rights of the LGBTQ+ Community released a statement which reads “It shall be the policy of the United States to pursue an end to violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics, and to lead by the power of our example in the cause of advancing the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons around the world”.

Therefore, from the above statement, it can strongly be understood that the promotion of human rights, including the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons, remains central to U.S. foreign policy. Countries and democracies are stronger, according to President Joe Biden, when all people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or sex characteristics are treated with dignity and respect and are fully recognized as free and equal members of their societies in the country.

It is also clear that every day, the U.S. Government is working to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons in furtherance of President Biden’s as the torch bearer for this movement in the country. U.S. embassies also worked considerably closure with like-minded countries to tackle discrimination and stigma against LGBTQI+ persons.

GENESIS OF LGBTQ+ RIGHTS IN THE U.S

LGBTQ history is an umbrella term which captures the stories of strength and struggle of diverse individuals, cultures and communities that have been considered non-normative in nature. It is the story of movements for justice, of moments of triumph and tragedy that people now understood as LGBTQ have faced and often continue to face in their daily lives and demands for the right to live, love and thrive as inherently fundamental rights per se.

In the modern era, sexual and gender identity and expression have been central to Americans’ understandings of themselves, even as they have been shaped by and shaped broader structures and attitudes toward race, ethnicity, class, gender, ability and nation at large. Major institutions such as governments, courts, churches and the medical professions have served as arbiters, constructing normative and deviant sexualities and providing criteria for defining the range within each other with senses of clarity.

Therefore, the study of LGBTQ+ history in the United States is the study of cultural, social, and legal politics of the United States and who as well as what is considered part of the “national” narrative altogether. The National Park Service LGBTQ Heritage Initiative is a testament to how America’s perception of who is seen as part of the nation has shifted over the years.

The history of the same-sex marriage in the United States considerably dates from the early 1970s, when the first lawsuits seeking legal recognition of same-sex relationships brought the question of civil marriage rights and benefits for same-sex couples to public attention, even though they proved unsuccessful at the very initial time.

The subject became increasingly prominent in U.S. politics following the 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Behr v. Mike that suggested the possibility that the state's prohibition might be unconstitutional in nature and asked for revival of the previous decision for the sake of general citizen’s right in the country. That decision was met by actions at both the federal and state level to restrict marriage to male-female couples, notably the enactment at the federal level of the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) was at the fore interplay.

On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state and the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage following the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Good ridge v. Department of Public Health six months earlier. Just as with the Hawaii decision, the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts further provoked a reaction from opponents that resulted in furtherance of legal restrictions being written into state statutes and constitution of the United States of America.

The movement to obtain marriage rights for same-sex couples expanded steadily from that time until late 2014, lawsuits which had been brought in every state that still denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However, due to the increasing movement for the said rights, today the United States Government have legalised same-sex marriage and its being practiced across the country without restrictions as a matter of constitutional right.

CURRENT STATUS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN THE U.S

Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003, when the state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled its constitution afforded the right, according to Pew Research and consequently, some states, like New Jersey and New Hampshire, first allowed same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, or a partnership status not recognized by the federal government of the United States, before eventually moving to legalize such marriages in the country altogether.

Connecticut also followed Massachusetts in legalizing same-sex marriage in 2008 and so did California within the United States. Three other more states Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont as well as Washington, D.C, legalized the marriages in 2009, as per reports according to Pew Research. 

Over the next few years in the country, before Oberg fell, same-sex marriage made significant strides as a number of other states passed bills to legalize it or saw court rulings that struck down existing bans before the Supreme Court made all bans unconstitutional in 2015which clearly portrayed a very high sense of support. 

Besides, amid concerns about the status of LGBTQ rights nationwide and in the wake of worries about Oberg fell, Americans’ support for the legalization of same-sex marriage has reached high points as a result and several reports have been availed by multiple sources about same-sex marriage and among those sources includes a Gallup poll which was released in June found support legalizing same-sex marriage was on the rise, increasing 10 percentage points between 2015 and 2022 to reach a new height of 70 percent in the country.

Also, a Pew Research poll conducted in October further found that a majority of Americans (estimated at 61 percent) think legalization is good for the general society, with 36 percent saying the move would be very good as this was further in consonant with Biden praising the Respect for Marriage Act and encouraged congressional progress on the bill in the country.

CONCLUSION

The United States has long been an important battleground for LGBTQ+ rights, and U.S. leadership has been prominent in defending them worldwide. However, a rapid expansion of protections in the United States during the Barack Obama administration was stalled, in areas such as health care and military service, even reversed by the Donald J. Trump administration. 

Trump also deprioritized the promotion of LGBTQ+ rights in U.S. foreign policy. Therefore, this erosion of the U.S global standing on human rights issues poses an initial challenge for President Joe Biden, who is expected to pursue robust LGBTQ+ rights advocacy. Biden who faced resistance from conservative lawmakers and judges but his commitment to using executive powers evident in the signing of an executive order on his first day in office to protect LGBTQ+ Americans from discrimination bodes well for the restoration of the United States’ standing as a global leader in the defence of such rights till date.

Several judicial pronouncements have given rise to the protection of the same-sex marriage rights in the United States which originally started from individual state recognition to the general recognition in the whole territory of the great United States altogether.